Psychedelic, ethereal, ambient, tribal, meditative, trance inducing, dreamscapes, electro-folk, psy-ethno, psy-fusion.
Shamanic Love
Digital Album, released 30. November 2020.
Three of these tracks have been on long journeys. The oldest of them is Awakening, the basis of the tune was made back in 2016, but has been burried in a dusty archive until it was picked up again in the year of surprises, 2020. Back then, in 2016, it was inspired by a series of meditations and drum-journeys that started the radical changes towards living my life long dreams. Two years later I moved to live in the woods, off-grid, finally close to nature and my inner self.
The very first track we created, that sparked the whole Astralseid project, was Skydance. It was created through improvisations and playing around with midi sounds and beats. Just as the track was finished we were heading from the studio and I put the computer in a plastic bag, with a can of beer. When we got home the computer was swimming in beer, a thorn had made a tiny hole in the can. Luckily we managed to salvage both the computer and our new track. A few days later we released the song as a demo on Bancdamp. This was back in 2018. Shortly after we laid the foundations of Shadow Love, a track that took us close to two years to finish. It went through several stages and variations until it became what you hear.
Liberty is a tribute to trance, as a state of mind as well as a music genre, but also the fantastic instrument and spiritual tool: The mouth harp. The kick drum and many of the sounds are extracted from its vibrations. The mouth harp is a very entrancing instrument, specially to play it. Your breath is vital to the sound quality and volume, so to play for longer periods, you need to learn how to breath deeply. Breath is also vital to many meditation techniques. On top of that you have the drone sound, the overtones and the beat going. All of it directly sendt to your ears through your own jaw and scull. This song was born a bit after the other three. We were actually ready to release an EP with only three songs, but once we heard what Liberty could become, we delayed it all to get it on board. This gave the whole album completeness, and the time needed to call it an album.
Credits
- All songs recorded and mixed by Gustav Holberg and Rúnahild.
- Mastered by Gustav Holberg.
- Album artwork by Gustav Holberg and Tore Holberg.
- Produced by Astral Synergy Productions.
Tracks
1. Shadow Love
As I stand in light, I cast a shadow of inner struggles, regrets, fears, and traumas. These shadows are a part of me, my body and mind, always remembering. To heal I can not ignore nor run away, my shadows will follow. The closer I come to the light the stronger the shadow. To heal I go deep, to understand and realise, to transform with love. Learning to love even the darkest parts of my self, to not judge my past self. This is no easy path to take, it is not done in one single meditation. It can take months and years to work through traumas and bringing light into the darkest of places. Slowly I learn to forgive and to change my reactions and triggers.
2. Skydance
We have always looked up to the starlit sky, at the great expanding universe. From ancient times we have been making stories about gods and spirits, trying to explain it all and how the sky affects us. Through modern science and thousands of years of observations we start to understand more and more of its creation and history. In the beginning the universe was unorganized and violent, but the spin and gravity started the dance that slowly brought more and more harmony and stability. Slowly stars and planets formed out of the dust, through the attraction of gravity, spinning and weaving molecules into matter. Every little part of this history has lead us to where we are today, the living and breathing planet Earth.
This is for the stars and planets spinning, for the ongoing creation and transformation of the universe. This is our love song for the starlit sky, and for the planets, moons, stars and galaxies spinning their eternal dance, slowly finding harmony. Our dance is its reflection, finding our own inner balance. This is our praise to all things connected, a celebration of our oneness with the whole universe.
3. Liberty
The breath through the mouth-harp and its rhythmic, drone like sound with dancing overtones, takes us deep into trance. A state of mind where we can discover our inner worlds and find the keys to free ourselves from the restraints of culture, expectations of others, bonds to material wealth and objects, fear of pain and death, and all that is related to the Ego: Liberty. That connects us to our inner divine beings, that is the cosmic divine being.
Love for another is happiness, love for one self is peace, love for the whole of cosmos is liberty.
4. Awakening
I let the dreams of my soul awaken in me, slowly from the slumber of my ignorance. Piece by piece, illusions are chipped away to let the light shine through the veil. This continous realisation of the inner self is to learn to love the whole of creation, the whole universe. Seeing the connection of all things, understanding that you, I, we, us are all from the same soul and energy. Seeing how everything in the universe slowly finds harmony from the chaos it was born, I seek the same harmony from within.
The universe is a brutal place, but it constantly seeks harmony and balance. As a star is born and its planets are formed from the debris of a supernova, each object finds its path around that sun, harmonised through the gravity of the sun and eachother. This is the awakening of the universe, as it is the awakening within me, making real the harmony of my soul.
This awakening is a continuous process of learning to love soul, body and mind. It is learning to love the earth and all its life. Learning to love the universe and all its wonders. Awakening is to learn to love without conditions, without demanding it be returned. Awakening is to truly love eachother, beyond judgement. Awakening is to realise that love is beyond our emotions.
